- Defending Hockey East Tournament champion #7 UMass Lowell welcomes #10 Merrimack in
the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament, marking the first time the River Hawks have
competed in the first round of the tournament. The two teams met just last weekend in a home
and home series to close out the regular season. The Warriors took the first game of the series
with a 4-1 win in North Andover, before dropping a 5-0 decision on the road in Lowell.

- Merrimack goaltender Craig Pantano (Bridgewater, Mass.) turned away 28 of the River Hawks'
attempts while the Warriors' leading scorer Brett Seney (London, Ont.) found the back of the net
twice on Friday night to help secure the victory for Merrimack. This season marks Seney's fourthstraight
year having recorded over 25 points and his fourth year leading the Warriors in points.

- The River Hawks have appeared in each of the last five Hockey East Tournament Championship
games, holding a 3-2 record in that span. The last four tournament MVPs have also donned the
red, white and blue.

- UMass Lowell has clashed with Merrimack in the postseason just once before, sweeping a
best of three quarterfinal series over the Warriors in 1994. In that series, current UML head coach
Norm Bazin recorded a hat trick.

- Sophomore forward Ryan Lohin (Chadds Ford, Penn./9g, 16a) and junior forward Ryan
Dmowski (East Lyme, Conn./11g, 11a) have combined for 47 points this season, while four
other players have each posted 20 points for the River Hawks.

- New Hampshire enters the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament as the number 11
seed after dropping four points to Northeastern in the final weekend of regular season play.
New Hampshire had not finished last in the Hockey East standings since the 1987-88 season.

- In last year's tournament, the Wildcats defeated Merrimack in the only opening round series
that was forced to three games, before falling in three during the quarterfinal round to eventual
tournament champion, UMass Lowell.

- The Wildcats and Black Bears have played each other just six times in the Hockey East Tournament,
most recently in 2002. All-time, Maine boasts a 5-1-0 mark over their southern rivals.

- Senior forward Michael McNicholas (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) has tallied 24 points on five
goals and 19 assists in 34 appearances for New Hampshire this season.

- Maine comes into the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament as the number six seed
and will play host to New Hampshire in the best-of-three series at Alfond Arena. This season,
the Black Bears hold a 1-0-2 record over the Wildcats.

- Maine has not advanced into the quarterfinals since the 2014 tournament and looks to return
to the semifinals at TD Garden for the first time since 2012. The Black Bears' sixth-place finish
is also their highest since 2013-14.

- The Black Bears will look to bounce back after dropping four points over the weekend on the
road at Boston College. Ten different players recorded points in the efforts, including leading
point-getter Mitchell Fossier (Alpharetta, Ga.), who dished out two helpers to up his point total
on the season to 30 (11g, 19a).

- Vermont travels to Amherst for the first time this season to take on the Massachusetts Minutemen
in the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament. The Catamounts have participated in every
opening round since the new tournament format was implemented and will look to advance to
the quarterfinals for the fifth year in a row.

- Massachusetts is hosting a postseason round for the first time since the 2007 tournament

- Ross Colton (Robbinsville, N.J.) will look to lead the offensive charge up front for Vermont
after posting at 15-6--21 stat line during the regular season. The sophomore has now tallied 20
or more points in each of his first two seasons in the green and gold.

- This weekend marks the first time that UMass will host a postseason game in over 10 years.
The Minutemen hold a 1-0-1 record over Vermont on the season and will welcome them to the Mullins Center for the first time since
November 12, 2016. The Catamounts are 1-0-0 against Massachusetts all-time in the postseason.

- The Minutemen will look to goaltender Matt Murray (St. Albert, Alta.) to help advance to the quarterfinal round. The rookie posted a
4-1-1 record in the final six games of the regular season and garnered Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors for the last
week before heading into tournament play.